ST. LOUIS ― The Federal Reserve System and the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) today released Community Banking in the 21st Century: Opportunities, Challenges and Perspectives, a first-of-its-kind report on the challenges and opportunities facing today’s 21st century community banks. The report was produced and released in conjunction with Community Banking in the 21st Century,

a national community banking and research conference hosted by the Fed and CSBS at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis on Oct. 2-3, 2013.

To solicit the views of the community banking industry, state banking regulators hosted a number of meetings with community bankers this past spring and summer. Close to 1,700 community bankers from 28 states participated in a series of town hall events, conversations and surveys from April through July 2013. Bankers shared their thoughts on the state of the community banking industry, including the opportunities and challenges they face, providing oftentimes candid views based upon the economic and fiscal realities of their respective communities.

The first part of the publication presents current and historical community banking data to provide an appropriate context for understanding how the industry has changed over the past two decades, and how to help frame discussions on how the industry can react to future challenges and take advantage of future opportunities. The second part of the report synthesizes and analyzes the responses to the questions that were asked of community bankers, revealing common themes, as well as unique and innovative insights. The final appendix provides a state-by-state summary of the responses.

For more information about the conference, which was recorded and will be posted shortly to the conference web site, see stlouisfed.org/CBRC2013.

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Headquartered in St. Louis, with branches in Little Rock, Louisville and Memphis, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis serves the states that comprise the Federal Reserve’s Eighth District, which includes all of Arkansas, eastern Missouri, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, western Kentucky, western Tennessee and northern Mississippi. The St. Louis Fed is one of 12 regional Reserve banks that, along with the Board of Governors in Washington, D.C., comprise the Federal Reserve System. As the nation's central bank, the Federal Reserve System formulates U.S. monetary policy, regulates state-chartered member banks and bank holding companies, provides payment services to financial institutions and the U.S. government, and promotes financial literacy, economic education, and community development.

The Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) is the nationwide organization of banking regulators from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. State banking regulators supervise approximately 5,300 state‐chartered financial institutions. Further, most state banking departments also regulate a variety of non-bank financial services providers, including mortgage providers. For more than a century, CSBS has given state supervisors a national forum to coordinate supervision of their regulated entities and to develop regulatory policy. CSBS also provides training to state banking and financial regulators and represents its members before Congress and the federal financial regulatory agencies.